Customer Reviews

From Alamo to El Dorado

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

this album is a treat to someone on the heavy side of 50 whose heroes always were and always will be cowboys. we had the best, the truest heroes, and nothing today compares with then. the themes in this album recall evenings spent glued to the tv, engrossed in the latest exploits of men with such unlikely names as bronco and wyatt. most important for me, it contains the theme of "twentysix men", a western that only played for a short while in my area. if you love cowboys, this is an album you have to have.

I built up some gift certificate money, so I decided to use some bucks and get this CD. I only bought it to get the El Dorado theme by George Alexander and the Mellowmen. I'm a huge John Wayne fan and always loved the theme, but have had no luck in finding it anywhere else. Well, it sounds like they placed 2 recording mics in front of the TV and let 'er rip. And then instead of a fade out like in the movie, they decided to dub the last chorus with the actual orchestration at the end of the movie where John Wayne and Robert Mitchum are strolling down the street. The problem is the outro is in a different key and it is glaringly obvious! I guess the brilliant engineer on this CD missed the key changes in each of the verses of the theme song. I hope I can score a better recording someday. The High Chapperal by David Rose is awful, and most of the other tracks are sappy. Bronco and Sugarfoot brought back nice boyhood memories and Glen Campbell singing the True Grit song is OK. However, the Spanish version of A Man With True Grit and many of the other tracks made me cringe or laugh uncontrollably. Being spoiled by quality music from Westerns by Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops, Tiomkin, or Bernstein made this one hard to bear.

First have to set the Record straight. The track desciption lists "Bronco" From "Bronco Billy" (The Clint Eastwood Movie), THAT IS NOT THE CASE. This "Bronco" is from the 60's TV Show. That said, this is a unique collection of TV/Movie Westerns, that are done quite nice. It would have been nice if they had filled the CD. It runs less than a hour, a little over 55 minutes.
I like the obscure songs, like "Cat Ballou" by Nat King Cole & Stubby Kaye, Title Song From "El Dorado" by George Alexander, "Sugarfoot" by Sons of The Pioneer, even the Humorous Bob Hope doing "Buttons" & Bows from the movie "The Paleface". Also I like that they included not only the original song from the Movie "True Grit" by Glenn Campbell, but a Rare Spanish Version that he did. I think this is a true collectors gem.

"From Alamo to El Dorado, Vol. 2" is a nice collection of western songs from the big and little screen. "Stagecoach To Cheyenne" sung by is catchy Wayne Newton. "Green Leaves Of Summer" by The Brothers Four is a classic. "Marmalade, Molasses and Honey" vocalized by Andy Williams is a lot of fun. I like this CD.

I don't believe I've ever come across a Bear Family Records product before, but these people really know what they're doing. The sound quality is very good to outstanding depending on the track. Some of these recordings go back to 1948. Given what The Bear Family probably had to work with, I'd say this CD is fantastic at preserving a lot of recordings that simply cannot be found elsewhere. I'm sure everyone will have a few personal favorites that aren't included on this CD, But overall it's a great compilation that really captures the essence of a lot of classic Western films and TV shows. Some standout tunes include songs by Nat King Cole/Stubby Kaye, Glen Campbell, and Jose Feliciano. There's not a dog on here. A great booklet accompanies the CD. It looks like the Bear Family concentrates on older American Western and cowboy music. They certainly seem to do it well! If all their products are as good as this, I wish they would extend their realm into other areas of popular music.

BEAUTIFULLY PRODUCED ALBUM, WITH MANY OLD AND HARD TO FIND TV AND MOVIE SOUNDTRACKS. IT WAS NICE RECEIVE AND TO LISTEN TO, AND IT BROUGHT BACK MANY OLD AND PLEASANT MEMORIES OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF TV AND MOVIES. MANY THANKS FOR THE FOND MEMORIES,

Has alot of great songs but as with most CDs some you could do without but knowing this I would still buy it for the songs it has